Tag: Don’t Tell Anyone

This month, I’m taking part in a month-long holiday book-a-palooza with eNovel Authors at Work, The Choosy Bookworm, and Book Partners in Crime Promotions. You can enter a variety of drawings to win books, gift cards, and even $250 in PayPal cash.

I’ll be giving away a few copies of Drawing Breath and Don’t Tell Anyone. Because I love giving away books. And I might have special deals going on a few titles, including A Sudden Gust of Gravity, which I expect will be live on Amazon around the time my turn comes up during Thanksgiving weekend, which I’ll be sharing with the lovely Bronwyn Elsmore and RP Dahlke. (See fancy banner graphic below.)

You can enter ten different drawings to win books and other cool swag from our lineup of authors. Start here and scroll below the main drawing; new Rafflecopters will go up every three days for each new group of authors.

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Hi, everyone. Just wanted to give you an update on what I’m working on and let you know about a couple of titles on sale…and one free.

A Sudden Gust of Gravity is a story I’ve wanted to tell for a long time. It’s about a young woman who wants to become a magician, in a field mainly dominated by men. I’ll share more with you later, including excerpts, giveaways, and the spiffy cover Mr. Art Man is working on. Right now, publishing looks good for early November. If you’d like to get the details first, you can sign up to get that info here.

Now, the sales:

Don’t Tell Anyone will be on sale for 99 cents until September 19 on Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks. And if you’d like to learn more about younger son Charlie Trager, you can pick up The Picture of Cool, the prequel to his story, for free on Amazon from September 16-17.

Here are the details:

Don’t Tell Anyone

Liza’s mother-in-law once called her a godless hippie raised by wolves. Now, after five years of marriage to her elder son, five years of disapproval and spite, the family accidentally learns that Estelle has a fatal illness. And Estelle comes to her with an impossible request. A horrified Liza refuses but keeps the question from her husband and his brother. As the three children urge Estelle to consider treatment, their complicated weave of family secrets and lies begins to unravel. Can they hold their own lives together long enough to help Estelle with hers?

Television producer Charlie Trager spends his days working with beautiful women on a daytime talk show. But underneath his cool façade, there’s a hollow spot in his heart, waiting for the right man to ease his loneliness. Then he meets the show’s next guest, a handsome young politician with a bad case of nerves—and a secret that could turn both their lives upside down.

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Despite the current kerfuffle about whether reviews still matter, I still believe that they do. For a couple of reasons. Authors, especially independent authors, depend on word of mouth from readers to get the word out about their books and reach a wider audience. More than any other source, readers surveyed by the IndieBRAG people say that this is how they most frequently decide to pick up a book from an unknown author: because a friend recommended it.

I also believe that reviews are for readers, and not as much for the author. Once I hit “publish,” my stories essentially belong to the world…and you guys. Your review helps other readers decide if this is a story they want to read.

With that in mind, I’ve enrolled my latest novel, Playing Charlie Cool, in a review program sponsored by The Choosy Bookworm. If you haven’t checked out this website or signed up for his book recommendations, it’s well worth your time. Jay, head Bookworm, is really supportive of authors and has been doing a great job to build up his site. And if you hop over to his website, you can get a free e-copy of the book in exchange for your honest review. Why not also peruse the other books you can read and review, too?

[Note: While Playing Charlie Cool is listed under “Romance,” it’s not a romance novel. And while it’s technically the third book in the Trager Family Secrets series and the sequel to Don’t Tell Anyone, it can be read as a stand-alone story.]

Thank you for your time. What influences your decision to pick up a book? Just curious.

If you’re keeping score, the novel also catches up with the characters introduced in Don’t Tell Anyone. But no worries if you haven’t read that one—while the characters and situations overlap, Playing Charlie Cool and Don’t Tell Anyone are stand-alone stories.

I’ll post again as we get closer. This will include an excerpt, info about a print book giveaway, and (woo hoo!) our final cover design.

And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter if you’d like the latest news and the occasional special offer. (I promise not to spam you.)

Thank you for your time, and now I’ll let you get back to your regularly scheduled Internet hijinks…

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I hate genres. No, put down the torches and pitchforks; I don’t mean genre fiction. Genre fiction is fabulous. But fitting into one of those slots? I’m having a harder time there. It’s been a problem ever since I finished my first novel and someone asked, “What’s it about?” Oh, I could have told her all day long (and I may have) about the hero’s quest to find his biological father, the inconvenient romantic entanglements, things he learns about himself along the way. Then, as the silence drew out, she finally asked, “No, I mean…is it a romance? A mystery? A comedy? A thriller?”

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I’m really excited about this. My husband designed a nifty cover for my upcoming short novella, The Picture of Cool. What’s it about? I’ll have a synopsis up in the next few days, I hope. I can tell you now that it’s a prequel to Don’t Tell Anyone. And for readers who wanted to hear more from Charlie, well… it’s his story.

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October is my favorite month—Indian summer, apples, beautiful leaves, that lovely crisp feeling in the air. After a completely insane September culminating with the release of Sliding Past Vertical, I had been looking forward to kicking back a teensy bit. Okay, I know that’s not really possible, since once the book comes out, the work really starts. At least I hoped to get outside once in a while before my schedule heated up again.

Not so, it seems, but it’s all good. I woke on Monday to find that Don’t Tell Anyone had been chosen the category winner for literary fiction in The Kindle Book Review 2013 Best Indie Books Awards. (see shiny badge to the right). Snoopy dancing! As my entry progressed from semi-finalist to finalist in September, I was happy to see enough editing work and book promotions on my calendar to keep me from thinking about October 1.

One great thing about indies is their generosity and eagerness to support other authors. I entered the contest along with a bunch of talented author friends and did little happy dances when Nicole Storey, DV Berkom, Julie Frayn, Rosanne Dingli, and Carol Wyer made it to the semi-finals, then again when Nickie and I were in the finals (with Hugh Howey in a different category!) When I got the “you’re a winner” email from Jeff Bennington at The Kindle Book Awards, it had also been sent to the other category winners. We immediately began contacting each other with congratulations and requests for Twitter handles.

After a bit of flutter, I forced myself back to earth, because Husband and I needed to get the print version of Sliding Past Vertical done. And here she is! I was so excited to get the proof in my hands. Four books in, and the feeling of holding the finished copy hasn’t yet gotten old. I hope it never does.

Have a great week!

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Most of you might know by now that out of the danged amazing writers chosen to be semifinalists in The Kindle Book Review‘s 2013 Best Indie Book Awards (several are friends and three of those friends are fellow Indies Unlimited minions or alums), the final five have been chosen in each of the eight categories.

I’m still in a bit of shock that out of those amazing books, Don’t Tell Anyone is in the top five in the Literary Fiction category. I’m also Snoopy-dancing for Nicole Storey, making the finals with the first book in her Grimsley Hollow series, and Rosanne Dingli, chosen for her Camera Obscura. Also, once again I’m standing beside Hugh Howey in a final, and once again grateful that we are in different categories.

Hugh Howey!

Cooler still is one of the perks of reaching the finals. The forty finalists have been asked to write two guest posts for a contest sponsor’s blog: one, a dream interview; the other, a dream review. Stephen Woodfin, the gentleman who sent me the email request, set a high bar for entries. Informal “bragging rights” for last year’s finalists went to, yes, Hugh Howey, for his dream interview done by Natalie Portman while giving him a massage.

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Story Cartel…sort of sounds like a group of shady librarians who will push you off the pier wearing Stephen King overshoes if you don’t pay your overdue fines.

But it’s a website where you can offer free e-copies of your book—plus a choice of goodies you can pony up for a giveaway—in exchange for an honest review. We indie authors are often looking for reviews, because it’s not like the New York Times Book Review is taking our calls. Yet.

Anyway, after learning about Story Cartel from book reviewer Big Al of Big Al’s Books and Pals, my friend and fellow Indies Unlimited minion, author Lynne Cantwell and I decided to give the website a test drive.

And maybe the indie authors in the house would like to sign up and give it a try with their own books. Similar to many other services like this one, Story Cartel offers a basic free service and an upgrade if you want to pay for the bells and whistles, which include pushing your message out to their database of followers.

I’m test-driving the basic service. I’m curious to see how this will work, especially since they’re only giving me 20 days to get my message out!

Charlie (grabbing two and offering Liza one): Our readers are dying to know, Liza. Just what do you see in my brother?

Liza: I don’t know. What did you see in Adam’s best man?

Charlie: I refuse to answer that, because this might be one of those “safe for work” websites. So what glorious surprise are you whipping up for dinner tonight?

Liza: Are you kidding me? I’ve been studying for my Organic Chemistry midterm all afternoon, so I pulled out one of the casseroles the neighbors brought. It might be lasagna, it might be moussaka. I have no idea.

Charlie: Did you leave the cover on? Or else Mom’s gonna go bonkers again. She keeps yapping that the noodles will dry out and I’ll break my caps.

Liza: Adam hasn’t put a fist through a wall lately, so I consider it a success.

Charlie: I noticed the place looked a little less…Swiss-cheesy.

Liza: How’s work?

Charlie (shrugging): Eh, the usual. Four divas talking about Prada and health care in front of the camera and wanting to kill each other behind it. Hey, did you know that Joelle’s adopting another Russian orphan?

Liza: Is that the one with the big hair or the one with the bad collagen job?

Charlie: The one Mom keeps calling “Joel.”

Liza: I still have no idea what they’re talking about.

Charlie: Watch the show once in a while. You might get some grooming tips.

Liza: You might get some extra-crunchy surprises in your lasagna. Or moussaka. Or whatever the heck this is.

Charlie (leans over to peer into oven): Is that one of Cara’s dishes?

Liza: I think so.

Charlie: Well, just call Wal-Mart; I’m sure they’ll tell you the ingredients. So here’s another question the world is dying to know: how do you manage to write for the newspaper, go to school, and still have time to play referee between a Jewish mother and her eldest son?

Liza: I’m a good multi-tasker. I record everything. Trouble is, I have to be careful not to mix up the recordings or I could be making my midnight press deadline with an essay about mitochondria and the sodium-potassium pump.

Charlie: It would still be more entertaining than most of what’s in that paper.

Liza: And my chemistry professor might be baffled by my story about school board allocations. Here’s one for you. Back when we were in college, did you ever think you’d be catering to four daytime divas instead of becoming the next Geraldo Rivera?

Charlie: I seriously hate his mustache.

Liza: You’re dodging the question, Mr. Trager.

Charlie (shrugging): It’s a living. Meaning they can’t live with out me. At least you get to be Lois Lane once in a while. Where is Superman, anyway?

Liza: Taking Estelle to get her hair done. You know how much he loves that. God, I hope we have more beer.

Interested in reading the story? Through July, you can grab Don’t Tell Anyone from Smashwords at half off (about $1.50) Go to http://bit.ly/a5Q90ZG and use code SSW50 at checkout.

Would you like to know when my next book, Sliding Past Vertical, will hit Amazon? Join my mailing list. I promise I won’t spam you.